180 Cart, New Records of Colorado Birds. |"Arii 



LApril 



NEW RECORDS AND IMPORTANT RANGE EXTEN- 

 SIONS OF COLORADO BIRDS. 



BY MERRITT CARY, U. S. BIOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



The notes relative to distribution of Colorado birds gathered 

 for the Biological Survey during the field seasons of 1905-06-07, 

 in connection with work on the life zones of that State, contain 

 important geographical or vertical extensions of the known ranges 

 of at least 34 species and subspecies. Moreover, two other species 

 have been found for the first time within the State. 



At the request of Dr. C. Hart Merriam, chief of the Biological 

 Survey, these are now placed on record. 



Mergus serrator. Red-breasted Merganser.— A mounted specimen 

 was seen in the Estes drug store at La Veta in May, 1907. Mr. E. W. 

 Scott, the owner, stated that it had been shot on a reservoir near the town. 



Egretta candidissima. Snowy Heron. — Although occasionally re- 

 ported from both sides of the mountains, the following two specimens 

 seem worth recording. While in the White River region in 1906 I learned 

 on reliable authority that a Snowy Heron had been killed near White 

 River P. O. the previous summer, being afterward mounted at Meeker. 

 A mounted specimen seen in the Estes drug store at La Veta in May, 

 1907, is said to have been killed in that vicinity. The altitude of La Veta, 

 7000 feet, is exceptionally high for this species. 



Helodromas solitarius cinnamomeus. Western Solitary Sandpiper. — 

 A pair seen on Deer Creek, 10 miles north of Kremmling, Middle Park, 

 July 13, 1905, may have been on their breeding grounds. 



Bartramia longicauda. Bartramian Sandpiper. — This plover is pos- 

 sibly of more general occurrence in western Colorado than has been sup- 

 posed. Migrating birds were heard at our camp on Bear River, south 

 of Lay, Routt County, the night of August 6, 1905, and others were heard 

 in migration at Meeker on several occasions between August 9 and 14, 

 usually after nightfall. Two were also seen on a meadow near Meeker, 

 August 12. 



A lone Bartramian Sandpiper seen August 9, 1907, on a timothy stubble 

 at the head of Smith Fork, in the West Elk Mountains, apparently had 

 become separated from a flock of migrating birds, as it was bewildered, and 

 remarkably tame. The altitude was unusual for Bartramia, being over 

 7000 feet, while the record is the most southwestern for the State. 



Lophortyx californicus. California Partridge. — From Grand Junc- 

 tion, where first introduced, this quail has spread up the Gunnison Valley 

 at least to Hotchkiss, where it was found in abundance in August, 1907. 



